The Golden Rule & False Teachers

Alright. I have been covering in the last few months the Book of Matthew, or put it another way, specifically the sermon on the Mount. My intention is to go through all the other sermons of Jesus Christ in the Book of Matthew. I will go through quickly the sections in between, but I want to focus on the sermons, on His teachings that He gave specifically, which are highlighted in the Book of Matthew. And we went through a number of sections in Matthew 5 through 7, which is the sermon on the Mount. And as I've highlighted to you, that is basically a concise teaching from Christ about how to apply God's law, how to modify and apply God's law beyond just the physical, but looking at spiritual prison. And in chapter 7, which is where we're going to go into today, in chapter 7 of Matthew, Jesus concludes His teaching on the sermon on the Mount by highlighting seven basic instructions to those seeking the Kingdom of God. And the last time I went through this, I highlighted two of those, specifically not judging and dealing with the unconverted.

Basically, not judging being the need to discern rather than condemning, and dealing with the unconverted basically giving His advice how to handle the unconverted, particularly looking at the consequences of quote-unquote giving pearls to the swine as it's described there.

And so those I did cover previously. Today, I want to cover the next four teachings. They namely are the ones dealing with the Father, in other words petitioning our Heavenly Father, which in a sense ties very well with the sermonette about asking and being persistent. Secondly, or which is actually the fourth of His teachings in this section, is our relationship with everyone. And thirdly is that the way to enter into the Kingdom of God is narrow and it's a difficult gate. And the fourth one that we'll be discussing today is how to distinguish false teachers, which is in a sense also ties in with all these, with the sermonette as well. Because all these four that I'm discussing today, they all cover about loving care, which is the outcome, which is outgoing love, agape love towards God and towards our neighbor. The last one of those seven, as I said I've covered two previously. Today I intend to cover four that makes six. And the last one, the seventh, which is faithfulness to Jesus Christ and His teachings, I'll cover in the next Bible study, hopefully, and then I'll start going into the following message of the discourse or teachings of Christ that He gives later on. So let's go back then to Matthew chapter 7. And where do we stop last time? We concluded verse 6, so we're going to continue today from verse 7. And so let's read verse 7 and 8 in first place. There's, Ask and it shall be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be open to you. For every one of us receives and you seek finds and to him or knocks it will be open.

And this ties very nicely with the sermonate because the sermonate was talking about faith and that we have to be persistent. When I gave the example in Luke 18 that we do have to be persistent. And the final outcome is love. And we can see why God answers is because He loves us. He does care for us. And so we have to be persistent. Now in chapter 6, Christ of Matthew chapter 6, Christ also covered about prayer. The need to be private in verses 5 and 6. The need to avoid vain repetitions in verses 7 and 8. And then He gave us a model, prayer, verses 8 through 13. Now in this section of His concluding teachings, He gives three additional statements of how to bring our requests to our Father by saying, ask, seek, and knock. Interesting the acronym of that, ASK, is ask. But anyway, that's just an English thing, so I can't use that in Portuguese. But anyway, it basically, they all point to the Father. And it says, we will receive if we ask.

Which means the Father will listen to us. But it does by saying, ask, and seek, and knock. It shows a spirit of persistence, of not giving up, of continuously asking. Just like we saw in Luke 18. You know, ask, pray, persist. We will find if we seek. Sometimes it's immediate. Sometimes it takes years. But we'll find it. We just have to be persistent.

We're going to seek to understand, seek to have wisdom. Look with me to Proverbs chapter 3 verse 13. Proverbs chapter 3 verse 13.

Proverbs 3 verse 13. Happy is a man who finds wisdom, and a man who gains understanding.

Now, sometimes people don't fully understand or grasp the difference between knowledge, understanding, and wisdom. But knowledge is basically, you have knowledge, you know, you know verse, it's yellow, pink, etc. Understand, you understand the implications of that. But wisdom is, you know how to apply it in the right way that bears the right fruits. And then you have character, which is having the courage and the guts to do it, even though sometimes it's difficult to do it.

So you have knowledge, understanding, wisdom, and character, which basically is outgoing love, because you're doing the right thing. So anyway, but it says, happy is the man who finds wisdom. In other words, that he knows and can discern and has the wisdom to know what is right and wrong.

Now, in the Old Testament, the Old Testament, if you think of it, the Old Testament as an entity, a lot of it is focused around wisdom. Think about it. It's actually around wisdom. And you read for instance problems and you can see, he asked, is it? It's really around wisdom. In other words, how to apply understanding properly. But in the New Testament, the focus of the New Testament is love, which is the character to do what is right.

So in the Old Testament, it's showing you what is right and what is wrong, and the wisdom of choosing the right. But in the New Testament, is God's love through his Spirit, through Christ, that we put to practice what is right.

But continue our reading in verse 14, it says, the proceeds of wisdom are better than the prophets of silver, than they gain than fun gold. She's more precious than rubies and all the things that you may decide cannot compare with her. A lamp of days is in the right hand. You think about it.

It's not only physically, but the real lamp of days when we apply godly wisdom is eternal life. That is length of days. So it says, but in the left and in the left hand reaches an honor, because true riches and true honor will be given to us in the kingdom of God.

Really, we will have true riches, but that's not our goal. Our goal is to be servants and to be outgoing and loving, but God will glorify us. Not to say glorious, He is, of course. But it says, if we suffer with Him, we will be glorified with Him. So there is that. In verse 17, in her ways of pleasantness and all paths of peace.

You know what? If we have wisdom, we're going to try to do things in a pleasant, peaceful way. So, that is profound. Think about it. Because if we have wisdom, we may not agree with certain things, but we're going to express it in a pleasant, peaceful way. That is wisdom. So, in her ways of pleasantness and all paths of peace, the end result, the outcome is peace. Even if you can't make peace, you will have internal peace because you tried your best. Think about it. Think about it. She is a tree of life. What is a tree of life? It's eternal life!

It's eternal life. To those who take hold of her and happy are all retained. So, maybe there's a thing that we need to think about because it says we'll be happy.

Brings an eternal happiness. And you know what? When you do it the right way, you do feel, well, I feel good. Not that I'm self-righteous about it. I feel good that with God's help, God's Spirit, I actually say the right things. However, we all fail and all the time some say, I should have said it better. But you know, we're learning. We're all there. We're all there. But the hour is exactly what James told us in chapter 1. Let's go to James chapter 1. We also heard in the sermon that we went into James, but look at the hour, James chapter 1. Because it ties in with what Christ says, ask, seek, and knock. So in James chapter 1, and we read starting in verse 5, if any of you lacks wisdom, know which one of us has plenty of it. Okay, then if you have plenty of it, you don't qualify.

But that's... I remember the days when I first came into the church. I would often come to this scripture and say, God, I need this because I don't have it. And today I still come to it and say, God, I need it. But it says, if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach.

And it just might be given to him. No, no, it doesn't say that, right? It will be given to him. I deliberately say that might to pre-cuditation, right? You see, it will be given to you.

See, there's no doubt here. Back to faith. There's no doubt here.

Let him ask in faith. With no doubt. For you doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. I mean, I don't know if you've been at the sea shore and watched the waves.

There's nothing wrong with that. That's the way God made it. But I mean, if our decision making process is, yes, no, yes, no, yes, no, yes, no, shall I? No. There's a problem. There's a problem there. So he says, for let not that man or woman suppose that he or she will receive anything from the Lord.

Because he's a double-minded person, unstable in all his ways. Unstable.

Get the facts. Ask God for wisdom and then have the faith to go forwards and do. You see, we've got it. Go forwards in a pleasant and peaceful way.

Not go forwards and smash everybody in the process like a bull in a china shop. You know, you do it in a pleasant and a peaceful way. Look at James chapter 3. You see, because there's two wisdoms. And I'm not going to talk about the other wisdom of the world, which is in the previous verses in James chapter 3. But in verse 17 says, the wisdom that is from God, the godly wisdom, the good wisdom, the wisdom that you and I seek is first, the wisdom that you and I seek. Is first pure.

Now, a way of looking at it is not saying, first, number one, number two is peaceable, number three is that. First, look at it like a base. It's got to be pure.

And then all the other things will happen with it. So first and foremost, it must be honest, must be pure, must be sincere. And it says, then, peaceable, gentle. You know, when we talk about being pleasant in voice, that's gentle. It's kind. It's neat, willing to yield.

It's not, it's my way or the highway. No, it's let's see what's right for everybody, full of mercy and good fruits without partiality and without hypocrisy.

Now, the proof of righteousness is signed in peace by those who make peace. Really, it requires peace-making. It's not peace-loving. It's peace-making. It's an effort to do it, to promote peace. But that is wisdom. That is godly wisdom.

So, let's now go back to Christ's teaching in Matthew, chapter 7.

And so, we'll continue in verse 9. Because now, Christ expands the spirit, the mindset that God has in this giving. Because it says, in verse 9, For what man is there among you who? If his son asks for bread, he'll give him a stone. Or if he asks for a fish, he'll give him a serpent.

If you ask for a piece of bread, maybe you've got these breads that are round. If you can't see well, it might look like a stone. But you get these, like in Europe particularly, you've got these little breads. Some of them feel like stone. But if your son asks you for bread, if your children ask you for food, are you going to give them something but food?

And he says, if your son asks for a fish, you know, a fish swears like this. Well, he's going to give him a snake. No! No, you're going to give him something good. Not something that kind of could appear something else. So, verse 11. If you then, being evil, well, which father, quote-unquote, is evil, well, maybe there are some, but typically what it's talking about you and I are evil compared to God.

I mean, we're a long way from God's love. So, in comparison to God, we're all evil. So, in other words, we fall short of the goodness of God. So, we being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children. How much more will your father, who is in heaven, give good gifts to those who ask him? Ask, sink, and knock. Yes, we have to have faith. But you know what? As a dad, you want to give to your children. But, I mean, if they're naughty, you might just hold it back for a while, or whatever it is, or to teach them a lesson, or to teach them character, whatever it is, you might not answer it straight away.

Our heavenly father is the same. But, in the end, he wants to give us what is good. And so, we need to fight, and we need to be persistent and ask. And then we move on to the second teaching, because that was the first teaching about how to ask God. But we go on to the second teaching. And, by the way, the first teaching shows a lot of love from the father.

But we move on to the second teacher, says, therefore, and it's linked, therefore, just because, like God hears us, we need to year to the needs of others, therefore, likewise, we need to treat others also kindly. And that's what it says. Therefore, whatever you want the man to do to you, do also to them, for this is the law and the prophets. Now, this is a positive statement. I mean, there are other religions or other leaders that say similar things, but the difference in this, the way Christ emphasizes this, it's the positiveness. It's not that you wait for others to do it, you do it positively, because you want to receive it, you do it.

You don't wait for them to do it to you. It's a positive statement. It's a proactive statement. Do also to them. And then it says, for verse is the law and the prophets. Christ did not come to abolish the law and the prophets. It's the second time in the section of the Sermon on the Mount that he says that. I mean, he said that in Matthew 5, around about verse 17, where it says, you know, the law is not done away, it's magnified.

And you know, in the law it says, love your neighbor as yourself. So it's there. That's what the law is all about. About love God and love your neighbor. You look at the 10 commandments. Love God and love your neighbor. So Yah is Jesus' statement. The second teaching, Yah, is his statement, which is a positive statement, that we need to show respect as we would like to be respected. Think about that way. We've got to respect other people's names. We've got to respect other people's property. We've got to respect other people's family. We've got to respect other people's reputation. We've got to care for them when they're in trouble. All this is part of this golden rule, is, in a sense, the second teaching.

Let's move on then, on to his third teaching, which starts in verse 13 and 14. It says, And her by the narrow gate, For wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leads to destruction. And there are many who go into it, because narrow is the gate, and difficult is the way, which leads to life, and there are few who find it. Have you noticed? In first is a contrast, but there's three elements in this contrast. The contrast of two ways, a wide and a narrow way, a contrast of two groups of people, many and few, and a contrast of two destinations, or end results, life and utter destruction.

So let's look. The two ways, which is one, is the easy road. A lot of room, a lot of room. It's like we all have the right to our own opinions. That's a wide road. That's the way of this world. Relax to morrows. You can do whatever you want, as much as doesn't hurt the other. No restrictions, no absolute standard of right and wrong. Well, if it feels good, do it! Of permissiveness. It's a wide road. And you know what? If you go on this wide road, most of the people like you. Yeah, you know, it's a nice guy, nice person, yeah.

But the question is, what does God say? That's the point. What does God say? There's a lot of what people like you, but what does God say? You know, Deuteronomy 30 says, I give you two to choose life and death. Deuteronomy 30 verse 9. I give you to choose life and death. Choose life that you and your children might prosper. There's two ways. There's nothing new. You can go back to Genesis chapter 2. There's two trees. There's two ways. Choose the tree of life or the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now, people say, oh, well, therefore, this other tree is not knowledge of good and evil.

Incorrect. The tree of life is God's knowledge of good and evil through his advice and instructions and laws. The other tree is the tree of death, which is you choose for yourself. You decide what is right and wrong, the way of the world. You set up, depending on whatever conditions, whether this behavior, sexual behavior, or whatever it is, is right or wrong. And you see, over the last week, there has been some statements in some named by certain cities. I don't want to go into specific details, but you just have. And really, this thing is getting hot, really becoming very polarized about sexual misconduct. And one type of sexual misconduct is said, oh, well, you're just loving and kind and whatever.

And the other one says, no, but it's sin, and this thing is polarizing. It's really the point is we gotta look at what God says. We gotta look at what God says. You see, because God, in a sense, tells us what we are to believe, God tells us what we ought to do, what is right and wrong. God tells us what we ought to say. God tells us how to spend our money. Think about it. In fact, God tells you what to eat and what not to eat.

And so, there's a tree of life which has got knowledge of good and evil. But it's God's knowledge and it's God's direction, and therefore it shows faith and trust and belief in what He says. The other one says, I don't believe and trust in God. I'll make up my own.

That's another way of looking at it. So, there's two ways. But there's two groups of people. One is a manning. One is a manning. They're going to follow that wide way. In fact, they actually don't even know where they're going. They don't know the final outcome. In reality, it's wide. And you can take a lot with you, quote unquote, because you can take a lot of baggage with you, because it fits through that way, fits through that door.

If the door is narrow, there's a lot of baggage you're going to take out. You're going to squeeze through. So, think about that. Now, we have an understanding which is based on John chapter 6 verse 44. John 6 verse 44. What does it say? No man can come to me unless the Father is calling. I can read it, so I'll read it correctly. No man can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I'll raise him until I stay.

The point here is that whether you're called now or called later, you still have to make a choice. You have to make a choice. Now, many are called now. Think about it. Many are called now. For instance, about two or three weeks ago, we sent 800 letters calling people to come, and yes, there were six that came. But how many stick? You see, you're going to make a choice. Many are called. Many are called, but people avoid to make commitments. People avoid to be zealous about different things. Let's look at Matthew 22, because that's what it says in one of the places it says about many are called. Matthew 22. Matthew 22. Matthew 22. In verse 14.

Interesting enough, in this section from verse 1 to 14, is a section about a parable about a wedding feast. Interesting, isn't it? Very interesting, because many are called to that wedding. Now, think about it.

Think about it. Do you treat the wedding of your son or your daughter as something very special, as a very special occasion? Of course you do. How much more the father treats the wedding of his son to the bride?

And how he has desired to see that for eternity? That is a once, one-time event, ever in the universe. Once, it will never happen again. Never! And you and I are called to be them.

The interesting point is that many are called and they don't come. Man, you send all these invitations out and you select who to invite, don't you? I mean, you don't just invite everybody. You select the invitations. And I know you have a wedding of your son or daughter. Maybe you send, depending on the size of the wedding, maybe you send 300 invitations, maybe you send a thousand.

What it's saying, a few will come.

I think, if you invite a lot of people to the wedding of your son and daughter, you always know some can't make valid reasons and that always happens. But if you know, if 99% would not come, I think you'd feel insulted.

Think how God thinks. So, if there's many are called, but few are chosen.

You know, brethren, you do have a choice. We have a choice. But then, God will still choose from us of those that have chosen. That's an interesting point because we got to make a choice. We got to make a commitment. But then, our commitment might be, look warm. Might be like the 10 virgins. Five are wise and five are foolish. And some did not ready themselves, or did not have a wedding garment. So, it's very serious stuff here. But look at Matthew 11, verse 12. Matthew 11, verse 12. He says, From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven, kingdom of God, suffers violence, and the violence taken by force.

And it's interesting because in the Portuguese translation says, the kingdom of heaven is taken by striving, and those that strive will take ownership. Interesting. Because what we see, is that you got to make an effort. You got to make an effort. Not violent in the negative context, but it's violent in having the desire and the energy and making the self-determination and character to say, I am going to go against the weakness of the flesh. And today, I don't feel like getting up. Today, I don't feel like doing this. You've got to work at it, and you've got to violently work against the pulls of the flesh and the weakness of the flesh. You've got to do it! Why? Because it's a one-off event in the timeline of the whole universe. It will never happen again. Which means those people, that will be the bride of Christ, will be in the top echelons of God's government.

And all the others will be below it. So they have to be the creme de la creme, let's put it that way. They've got to be top-notch, quality, virgins, top-notch, and you and I are called to it. What are we doing about it?

Are we being lukewarm? Or are we touching it by violence? And this does not mean violence against other people, violence against ourselves, and having that striving against ourselves. So we have a choice to do every day. We've got to climb this mountain every day.

You see, it's a narrow road. It's a narrow road. So it's two ways, a narrow road. There's two groups of people, and there's two destinations. It's eternal life or destruction. Destruction does not mean an immortal soul. It means destruction, which is the opposite of eternal life.

Turn with me just one, probably one page behind, in John chapter 10. Oh, no, not one page. I thought I was seeing the Matthew. But it's John chapter 10. John chapter 10, verse 9 and 10. John 10 verse 9 and 10.

Christ says, I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved.

And we'll go in and out and find posture. The thief does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come that day may have life, and that day may have it more abundantly, more abundantly. Eternal life is far more abundant than this life we have today. That's what it is.

This life, in reality, is not really life. The real life is eternal life to come. That is life. This is just a sample, you know, like you go for a, and they give you a little sample, like a little demonstration, a little small package, you know, demonstration. That's what it is. This is not real life.

Real life is still to come. It's far more abundant than of this life.

So that it says, yeah, that we'll have life and have more of that. That is the gospel.

That is the good news. Let me give you another example, yeah, in Luke chapter 13. Luke chapter 13.

We're starting verse at 22. And Christ went through the cities and villages teaching and journeying towards Jerusalem. And then one said to him, Lord, are there few who are saved?

Well, that's a direct question. Are there few that are saved?

He could have said yes. He could have said no.

In fact, he said neither.

But look at what he said.

He said, strive to enter through the narrow gate, the same thing in the seminary mount. For many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able.

And then he says, when once the master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and he begins to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open for us, the master will ask and say to you, I do not know where you're from. Where are you?

And then you'll begin to say, we are Christians. We can do church every Sunday.

We came and ate and drank in your presence. And you taught in our streets.

What do you mean you don't know us? But in Christ will say, I tell you, I do not know you.

Where are you from? Depart from me all you workers of iniquity.

You see, there is a narrow way. There is a narrow way. And we have to work hard to go that way. Okay. Reverend, how are we doing? How are we doing? Are we working right? I'm good.

This is very serious stuff. And so let's go back to Matthew chapter 7.

Because Christ the eye is teaching about, you know, we were asked. It's a difficult road.

And we're going to make an act of choice to go the right way.

But then he gives us a warning. Because then he says, and this is his fourth teaching. He says, beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing. But inwardly, they are ravenous wolves.

You see, because we just finished reading, people had knocked and they were outside and says, depart from me because you practice iniquity. We're going to be aware they are ravenous wolves deceiving us to practice iniquity. Particularly in the swole today. Particularly in the swole today.

You see, Jesus teaches the other contrasts.

One is good and the other one is bad. One is true and one is false. He continuously signs this, you know, that for instance, there's two ways.

One is narrow, the other one is wide. There's two destinies. One is life, the other one is destruction. And Yah is saying, one is sheep and the other is wolves.

But how do we recognize, therefore, a true minister of God?

How do we recognize a true servant of Jesus Christ? Versus a false one.

Because if they both look like sheep, one is a sheep and everyone looks like sheep. But it's not a sheep because there's a wolf inside. How do you distinguish?

The problem, brethren, here is that we in the church are sheep and sheep are naive and we can be easily deceived.

And we try to assume the best.

But Jesus Christ's statement, Yah, is very plain.

Psalm will appear.

Nice.

But what he's saying, they're ravenous wolves. In other words, they dare to tear you apart. In other words, they're lying. They're not really nice.

They are desperately trying to deceive you and I.

They will pretend to be part of the church of God. And you and I have to expect false prophets to appear sincere.

Wow. We have to expect false prophets to appear sincere. That's what Christ's saying.

Christ's saying we have to expect false prophets to be friendly and polite. Like Absalom. You know the story about David's son Absalom? He was grand and polite, but he was stabbing David on the back.

You have to expect false prophets to appear as humble Christians.

To appear Christians like David.

Like Simon the Sorcerer in Acts 8. He appeared a Christian, but he wasn't.

We have to expect false prophets to know the Bible.

After all, Satan quoted Scripture to Jesus Christ.

But even then he was lying.

Now, indeed, shepherds have a responsibility. They should spot the difference.

But there is one thing that we, as brethren, need to be aware of.

We need to learn to identify them.

Because at the time of the end, there will be many false prophets. Turn with me to Matthew 24. This is a section of Scripture you know very well. Matthew 24.

We'll start in verse 2. You know, Christ is saying, look, this will be destroyed. The temple, all this area will be completely destroyed.

And then in verse 3 they say, tell us, where is this? What will be the sign? Where is the end of this?

And what was Christ's first warning to them in verse 4?

Christ's first warning to them was, take heed that no one deceives you.

For many will come in my name, saying, I'm the Christ, and will be sick many. In other words, many will come saying, I am an administrator of Jesus Christ. I am a Christian, and they'll deceive you. In other words, there will be wolves in sheep's clothing.

That's what he's saying.

But he's talking about the time of the end.

So he's actually looking 2,000 years down to today and says, this is going to happen 2,000 years from today.

Look at verse 10.

Look at verse 10.

Then many will be offended.

Many will be offended, and will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.

Why? Because lawlessness will abound. The love of many will wax cold. Have you seen people that were in the church?

Their love has waxed cold.

They're no more in the church.

So Christ is giving us this turn warning here.

The characteristic of our society today is lawlessness. It's lack of God's law.

We've got to endure.

We've got to endure. He who endures to the end will be saved. Kupamone.

Mr. Kubik, about two or three weeks ago, made a little write-up about kupamone. Very interesting. Differentiating between the verb and the noun, and showing that the verb is we've got a kupamone, means persevere, and the noun means related more to persevere with patience, and showing that that's the gift of God. The kupamone, the noun. Very interesting. Go back and look at it. It was in your announcements that I gave you. And so it's we've got to endure to the end, and that is patient persevering to the end.

And then there's a prophecy, and says that this Gospel of the Kino will be preached in all the world to convert all nations. No, it doesn't say that.

As a witness to all nations. You see, the world thinks, well, they've got to convert everybody. That's Christ's job when he comes and establishes the kingdom of God on earth. And then all nations will be converted. Today, we're doing it as a witness. Does not mean that we'll convert some, and doesn't convert. We are too careful there, and things like that. But the mission, the main job of the mission, is to preach the Gospel as a witness.

And then the end will come.

So, brethren, we see there's much deception. Look at verse 23.

And if anyone says to you, says to you, look, yes Christ, or they don't believe it. False Christ and false prophets will rise.

And if possible, deceive even the elect.

Which means, if you and I are not making that effort with violence to overcome, we could be deceived. We really got to make an effort. Look with me to... ...to Romans chapter 16. Romans chapter 16.

Romans chapter 16, starting verse 17.

Yah is some very interesting instruction from Paul about how to look and identify false prophets. Verse 17.

Now I urge you, brethren, now he's writing to the brethren, to God's people in God's church.

Note those who cause divisions.

Note those who cause divisions.

How many people have caused division in God's church and started their own church?

Oh, after that, they're all very nice and very, very much, they look like sheep. But why do they cause divisions and offenses? There were so many offenses that I know friends.

And you probably know, too, they got very sick and some even died of heart attack because of what happened from those divisions caused by those people. You probably know people that went through that. I know I can mention them by name. Not Yah, of course, but I know them.

Says, of course, the visions of offense contrary to the doctrine which you learned and avoid them.

So Yah is all giving us a principle. Yah says, be careful.

They cause divisions. So there's one point, cause divisions. But not only that, some go even further by preaching different doctrines.

And it says, for those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but they are on bearing. For by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple. And, brethren, you and I are simple. Simple sheep. We are. There's nothing wrong with being simple.

Nothing wrong.

Nothing wrong.

But they are flattering speech and smooth words.

So, brethren, we've got to be careful.

We've got to be careful.

And so, going back to Matthew 7, Matthew 7, in verse 15, it says, Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.

So if you just look at some appearances, you could be deceived, because they appear like sheep.

But Christ gives extra help here.

And the help is in verse 16 onwards. Because He now changes the metaphor to help us to tell the difference.

You see, it's no more just sheep versus wolves that appear like sheep.

But in our chance to make the form to fruits.

Now, if I come to you with a grape, I don't think you'll be deceived if I tell you it's an apple.

Right?

Or if I come to you with a banana, and I tell you it's a coconut, you say, you're nuts! You're not deceived! And this is the point.

We've got to look at the fruits, and by the fruits, you shall know them!

You're not going to be deceived!

That's what we've got to look at.

By the fruits, the end result.

Which they've caused what? The visions. They've preached a different Christ, some of them. They have a wrong spirit. Some of them are preaching a different gospel.

Some cause offenses.

And some...

We've got to be careful.

Use words that hurt.

So he goes on here. He says, you'll know by the fruits, do men gather grapes from bushes or peaks from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore, by the fruits, you shall know them! By the fruits, we'll know them!

Look at Matthew chapter 12. We'll start in verse 33. Matthew 12, verse 33.

Either make the tree good, and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for a tree is known by fruit.

Okay, so the fruit. We'll look at the fruit. Then he says, verse 34, look at it. Brute vipers, how can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.

He's talking about our speech. Yes, it may come across with flattering words, etc., but give time to the fruit. Soon or later, it'll come out. Soon or later, it'll come out.

Soon or later, it'll come out.

So let's be careful with our words. Look, we all sometimes say things that we shouldn't say.

Which one of us does? But I mean, it's actually talking here is, hey, it's actually a fruit that he comes up. Let's see a good man. Verse 35, out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things. And an evil man, or the evil treasure of his heart, of course, brings forth evil things. In other words, the words that come out. But I say to you, for every idle word, men may speak. They will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words, you'll be justified, and by your words, you'll be condemned.

We've got to be careful with what comes out. And really, where we've got to be careful is what's inside.

Because it will come out.

It will come out.

So how do we distinguish?

Good shepherds and bad shepherds.

By the fruit.

The fruit could be divisions.

Fruit could be offenses.

Could be the speech. What they say. Okay. I want to go into more detail on this in my next sermon that will be covering continuation of Matthew.

Go into a little bit more detail about it. But for the time being, I want to leave with these points that are discussed with you today.

We have to ask.

We have to seek. We have to knock.

Because God cares for us. And therefore, equally, we are to care for others. So therefore, we have to act faith that God will intervene, as we are in the sermonette. God will intervene because our loving dad. And we have to apply the same principle to golden rule to love others. It's not an easy road.

It's not an easy road. Nobody promised you a bed of roses or whatever they'd say. You know, it's not an easy road.

But beware of false prophets. Because they are uncaring wolves for their own game. Whatever. It might not be money. It might be whatever. Prestige, whatever. Power, whatever it may be.

And we need to identify them by their fruits, which includes things like the vision, offenses, and the words they use. I hope to next time to recover this, probably after the feast, to cover in more detail. Next week, I hope to also have a sermon about preparing for the feast and preparing for trumpets and all that. So thank you, brethren. And may God be with you all. And God's Spirit help you through the next week.